Judges 2:6-14

The End of an Era

2:6 When Joshua dismissed ¹  the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, ²  intending to take possession of the land. 2:7 The people worshiped ³  the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men ⁴  who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed ⁵  all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. ⁶  2:8 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten. 2:9 The people ⁷  buried him in his allotted land ⁸  in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 2:10 That entire generation passed away; ⁹  a new generation grew up ¹⁰  that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ 

A Monotonous Cycle

2:11 The Israelites did evil before ¹²  the Lord by worshiping ¹³  the Baals. 2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ¹⁴  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ¹⁵  them and made the Lord angry. 2:13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars. ¹⁶ 

2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel ¹⁷  and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. ¹⁸  He turned them over to ¹⁹  their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. ²⁰ 

[2:6]  ¹ tn Or “sent away.”

[2:6]  ² tn Heb “the Israelites went each to his inheritance.”

[2:7]  ³ tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “elders,” which could be interpreted to mean “leaders.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.”

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “arose after them.”

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel.” The expressions “personally experienced” and “seen” are interpretive.

[2:11]  ¹² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[2:11]  ¹³ tn Or “serving”; or “following.”

[2:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “fathers.”

[2:12]  ¹⁵ tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).

[2:13]  ¹⁶ tn Some English translations simply transliterate the plural Hebrew term (“Ashtaroth,” cf. NAB, NASB), pluralize the transliterated Hebrew singular form (“Ashtoreths,” cf. NIV), or use a variation of the name (“Astartes,” cf. NRSV).

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.